limige

so last fall someone tried to steal my 94z, retard was a loser and couldn't get it started, too bad... if he would've everyone would have heard it due to open 3" exhaust.

anyway, i bought a column from a firebird, 4th gen, forgot what year..

i went to put it in today and it's too short!!! wtf? by 2", my old one stuck out 4" of shaft from the column, new one only has 2" sticking out!!

i thought they were all the same!

does anybody know if that shaft is two peices inside? maybe i could swith the end somehow?

this sucks, i'm thinking about machining an adaptor if i can't switch the shafts somehow..


anyone got info on columns, why did they change them at all?

thanks,
mike

shoebox

Do you mean that it is too short to reach the steering shaft connection under the hood? Maybe the column you got had been in a wreck and was collapsed (like they are supposed to do).

limige

yeah, it doesn't meet the steering knuckle, how could i tell if that's what happened, and can it be fixed?

btw thanks for the quick reply

shoebox

See if this helps.

limige

thanks i'll go check, man you are too awesome, i hope i can make a donation some time to you, you really deserve it! but for now there are bills to pay... they say what goes around comes around, i hope you get all you deserve!

ttl,
mike

limige

try link below
i'm having problems making heads or tails of that, what can you tell me?

shoebox

I'm not sure I know what the question is.

limige

i'm not sure if it's collasped, the drawings show a picture, but i'm not sure where to look! where are the plastic injection holes at?

limige

http://www.pbase.com/limige/inbox

sorry link was wrong try this link!

shoebox

Looks like the plastic is up on the lower shaft. I don't know if you can see them without disassembling the column.

shoebox

Mine looks like the upper one, with about 4½" from the end of the tube to the end of the shaft that bolts to the steering coupler.

limige

yeah the upper is my old one....

on the new one one of the pads that bolt upward into the dash is kinda loose, you can wriggle it but not pull it out, everything else seems kosher, i may have to disassemble both to make one good one.....

what a pain, if the steel shaft pushes up during a collision then that is what happened but thats the only think that doesn't add up. everything else is the same!

limige

shoebox

i started tearing it apart today and the end slipped further in...so i gave it a firm tug out and was able to pull it out to the correct length...


so it must have collasped.
is it ok to use now? is it on a splined slip joint shaft to extend and retract or what?


thanks,
mike

shoebox

According to the factory service manual, it should be replaced.